Saturday, May 02, 2015

LONDON, 1 May 2015 (IRIN) - International Nepal earthquake responders
have a language all of their own. Things like this would make total
sense: “UNDAC and OSOCC are on ground while UNRC has been upped to HC.
Needs include NFI, AAP, WASH and CIMIC, and pledges are updated in FTS.
It can’t be long before an IA RTE and some kind of MIRA-style NA is
underway, even while INSARAG guides USAR / ISAR / FMT teams and their
K9s.”

Here’s your (TL;DR) guide to the clanking machinery of international relief acronymage:

UNDAC:
United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination. UNDAC teams have
deployed to Nepal to help the UN and government during the first phase
of the earthquake. UNDAC also assists in the coordination of incoming
international relief.

OSOCC:
On-Site Operations Coordination Centre. Developed by the UN’s Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to assist countries in
coordinating international search-and-rescue efforts following an
earthquake. Its private online workspace is called the Virtual OSOCC
(VOSOCC). On the ground it has one or more BOOs - Bases of Operation.

UNRC: United Nations Resident Coordinator. In countries with no
emergency, UN agencies are coordinated by a Resident Coordinator.

HC: In an emergency, a Humanitarian Coordinator is appointed to
coordinate both UN and non-UN international humanitarian action in
liaison with government. The HC is usually, but not always, the RC. When
the two hats are worn by one individual, as now in Nepal, he or she is
known by the title RC/HC.

IASC:
Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Grouping UN agencies, NGOs, the Red
Cross, and other international organisations, the IASC is a forum for
humanitarian responders to develop policies, agree on a clear division
of responsibility for the various aspects of humanitarian assistance and
identify gaps in response. Weaknesses in the humanitarian system
exposed by disasters in Pakistan and Haiti led to a process of IASC
reform, called the "Transformative Agenda" - TA.

L3: Level 3 emergency. This is the IASC classification for the most
severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. There are four crises currently
designated as L3: Iraq, Syria, Central African Republic and South
Sudan. Nepal has yet to make the list. The classification should
activate a faster mobilisation of human and financial resources, and is
based on five criteria: scale, complexity, urgency, capacity and
reputational risk.

NFI: Non-food items. The category is a catch-all for non-medical
supplies including mattresses, household items, hygiene kits, tents,
buckets, tarpaulins and so on.

AAP: Accountability to Affected Populations. Accountability has been a
buzzword in aid for years now, and gaining in prominence as an issue.
The improvement of two-way communication between aid agencies and their
clients - or “beneficiaries” - is now often wrapped up in AAP. Related
terms include CwC - Communicating with Communities and CDAC -
Communicating with Disaster-Affected Communities.

WASH: WAter, Sanitation and Hygiene. All of which are often lacking in
the aftermath of a disaster and can lead to the spread of disease.

CMCoord: Civil-Military Coordination. Aka CIMIC or CIVMIL. The often
strained relationship between aid agencies and militaries has its own
specialist roles and policies. (h/t Oliver Lacey-Hall)FTS: The UN’s Financial Tracking
Service. Updated in real time, it tracks pledges and actual
contributions made towards humanitarian response around the world.

IA RTE: Inter-Agency Real-Time Evaluation. Mandated by the IASC, IA RTEs
are commissioned reports in the first few weeks and months of a new
emergency to give quick feedback on gaps, access constraints, potential
threats and quality of the humanitarian response. There have been at
least eight RTEs.

MIRA: Multi-Cluster Initial Rapid Assessment. Developed by the IASC to
identify strategic humanitarian priorities during the first weeks
following an emergency, carried out by a team of emergency specialists
from various sectors. MIRA is a flavour of NA - Needs Assessment

INSARAG: International Search and
Rescue Advisory Group. Under a UN umbrella, this network of more than 80
countries and organisations establishes minimum standards for
search-and-rescue and a methodology for international coordination in
earthquake response.

USAR: Urban Search And Rescue. When search and rescue teams are deployed
internationally, they may be called ISARs. About 60 USARs have
registered in Nepal and the government has said it does not need any more. They often are combined with FMTs - Foreign Medical Teams.

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